Senior all stars ready to roll in Ebonite Senior at Metro Bowl

It seems like it has been a while since the Senior All-Star Bowling Association (SASBA) has been in Baton Rouge — or for that matter, South Louisiana. But thanks to tournament host Rusty Bethley and presenting sponsor the Belle of Baton Rouge Casino, some of the country’s top senior bowlers will be on hand at Metro Bowl this Friday through Sunday.

There will also be some local stars who have had success on the SASBA tour, including Randy Summers, Kenny Winstead, Delery Matherne and Gordon Stuntz. So far, the SASBA forum reports about 40 entries have been received.

The event starts with a warm-up sweeper from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. Tournament action starts at 8:45 a.m. Saturday with two shifts of eight games of qualifying.

There are four more qualifying games at 8:45 a.m. Sunday before the final 16 bowlers advance to match play of eight games about 1 p.m.

With $2,250 of added money, it will be a nice payoff. Admission is free.

The Monster Doubles, with a $3,000 guaranteed prize, is concluding this weekend at Metro as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the seniors would be looking for some partners to bowl in that event as well, so hanging around at Metro might not be a bad thing to consider.

World Series of Bowling

Before we visit with you again, the World Series of Bowling for the PBA Tour will start in Las Vegas.

Other than three major events, that’s where the entire series of PBA telecasts on ESPN will be taped.

The event starts with an All-In Showdown in which eight players — Chris Barnes, Chris Warren, Joe Paluszek, Brian Himmler, Ronnie Russell, Bill O’Neill, Sean Rash and Tommy Jones — each put up $5,000 of their money, along with $5,000 from BowlersDeal.com, to create a winner-take-all $45,000 shootout.

They tried this once before at the World Series, but Barnes was the only one to show up. This year, this is an intense group bowling for serious cash.

All the TV shows will be taped Nov. 18-19 with coverage starting with the World Bowling Tour finals on Dec. 4.

The start of the 16-player elimination matches for the PBA World Championship will be televised beginning Dec. 11 for five Sundays, not counting Christmas Day. There are other events that won’t be shown until as late as April.

If a bowler on the tour isn’t bowling well in the next three weeks, their year could be pretty financially unhealthy, to say the least.

College event upcoming

Metro will host the Southern Bowling Classic on Nov. 4-6. Southern’s bowling team will host teams from around the area, including Louisiana Tech, which has three local girls on the team: Amy Day, Caitlin Craighead and Kay Rawls.

So make a note, and if you want to see what NCAA bowling is all about, check out the competition that weekend.

Dunaway notes

Congrats to Donnie Riley for an outstanding night at All-Star Lanes as he topped the 800 mark with an 809 series that included a 289 game. I still think the 800 series is such a difficult accomplishment that anytime someone hits that mark, it should be praised.

Kristy Koontz had her first 700 (738), and there are rumors that she had the better series in the Koontz family that week. In full disclosure, I did subtract about 90 pins from one of Duke Koontz’s series a couple of weeks ago in the honor roll.

Curtis Westmoland had 731 (266) to lead the youth leagues, and Jerry Deslatte 715 (289) to pace senior league bowlers.

Congrats also to Ricky Bourgeois on his first 300 in 40 years, seriously. C.W. Dunaway and I would take just one perfect game before it’s too late.

Sumner Taylor was almost perfect with a 299, Russ Cradeur had 290 with 11 strikes, and Roland Hebert had 11 strikes in a 279 game. Jo Ann Tullier picked up the 6-7-10 split.

Jennifer Williams had her first 200, and Barry Doyle also had a perfect 300 game.

Trinity Gueho (youth) had a great set of 615 (165 pins over average) and 266 game (116 pins over), and Sue O’Neill rolled a 602, 119 pins over series average.